Baby Come On Home
by NatesMama
Summary: This is the third and final installment of the series that began with The Song Remains the Same and continued with One More for the Road.


**This is the third and final installment in the series that began with The Song Remains the Same and One More for the Road, both of which are available in my profile…and both of which I recommend you read before starting this one. It will make so much more sense.**

**Thanks for reading. **

Baby Come On Home

Temperance Brennan sat at the kitchen table reading the morning paper and sipping absently at a quickly cooling cup of tea. Taking in the early-morning quiet, she glanced at her open laptop and allowed her mind to wander back to that incredible weekend she had spent with Booth in New York.

When she'd realized that the man who stepped into the elevator with her at the Four Seasons was Booth, she'd almost panicked. She hadn't been in the same room with her former partner for almost two years, and although she was acutely aware of the fact that she'd missed him, seeing him standing right in front of her had been like a hard jab to the solar plexus. She'd not only missed him, she had _ached_ for him. Had mourned his loss even more acutely than she had when he had faked his death all those years ago. But despite all those emotions flooding her, she managed to not only find her voice, but make it sound so very much more confident than she was actually feeling. And when he'd turned, eyes wide, she knew what people meant when they said that their "stomach dropped". God, she had missed his face, his eyes, and his smile. And, surprisingly, he had smiled, which gave her some hope. He didn't get angry, or look hurt or even frown at her questioningly. Responses she had expected when they saw each other again someday and always felt that she deserved.

And then…after they'd had a lovely dinner, started to reconnect like they had never been apart, it hit her again. That…need, desire, whatever you wanted to call it. She wasn't ignorant of the physical indicators of sexual attraction, and those had always been there for her where Booth was concerned. But this feeling was different. It was almost as though she could taste him, and he was barely even touching her as they walked towards the hotel's doors. So she did the one thing she'd always wanted to do, the one thing she always should have done…she ran to him, instead of away from him.

And, as he'd always promised her, he was there to catch her when she finally fell.

What followed was the most sensual, exciting, freeing, intimate, just-plain-fun weekend of Brennan's entire life. She thought that she and Booth had a connection that couldn't be improved upon, but those two days completely proved her wrong. She had simply never felt closer to anyone in her entire life. It was almost as if…well, she couldn't find the words to describe it.

And then Booth had finally vocalized the question she had seen in his eyes since that first night. _Stay with me…_ And she had done what she always did…she froze. She had already accepted the simple fact that she was in love with Booth and that he loved her as well, but somehow that acceptance never translated into action for her. So she had done the one thing that she knew Booth would never do…she balked. Again. Even as she insisted she couldn't go back to DC with him, visual reminders of the look on his face that fateful night at the Hoover flashed in her head, but her mouth refused to rectify its previous mistake. Now, _mistakes_. Plural devastation.

Only now, Booth proved that he had taken to heart her words from that other night when she'd refused him out of fear. _"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome."_

So Booth took it upon himself to try and change the outcome.

He didn't insist. He didn't plead, he didn't push. He gave her what she thought she'd needed…time. And yes, he put a limit on how long he would wait, but the point was made. He would wait for her. And that was something that no other man had ever given her. Peter had said she wasn't worth the hassle, and although Sully offered her the world on his boat, he didn't care enough about her to stay when she couldn't go. The short-term relationships in between and after didn't even merit remembering. They were just fillers…stopgaps against the intensifying feelings she was having for her partner. Because she knew, or rather she thought she knew that she couldn't possibly be enough for someone like Booth. Someone as open and caring and decent as Booth would eventually begin to get tired of someone like her. Correcting her pop culture mistakes, pretending to laugh at her jokes, ignoring her embarrassing social faux pas would be wearing on Booth, and she knew he deserved better.

But once again, Booth showed Brennan that when it comes to matters of the heart, she had a lot to learn.

Booth didn't find her embarrassing or awkward or wrong. He found her charming and graceful and fascinating. He saw things in her that she never imagined she could see in herself. _He loved her._ And really, nothing else mattered. The problem with her epiphany about Booth was that she had it too late. When they'd returned from Indonesia and Afghanistan, she had been prepared to tell him that she'd made a mistake, that she was willing to give them a chance…but he'd already moved on. And while she'd tried to be happy for him, the pain and sadness was threatening to overwhelm her on a daily basis, and it all came to a head that night at Founding Fathers when Booth had referred to Hannah as "the love of his life". She realized then that she had thrown away the single greatest relationship she'd ever had, and for what? Fear? Temperance Brennan never walked away from a fight, from a challenge. But she had not only walked away from Booth and everything he represented, she had literally pushed him away…hard. All because she was scared to try. Terrified to lose him if things didn't work out. Yes, pure and simple cowardice had ruined her life.

So, she ran. Again.

The first few months she was gone, her father was the only person on the earth who knew exactly where she was. She kept in contact with Angela and the rest of the team with one-sided letters, but couldn't face sending anything to Booth, especially after Max told her that he and Hannah had broken up a month after Brennan's grand exit. The guilt that her theatrics (And let's face it, Temperance, running like a criminal in the night without a goodbye was pretty dramatic) might have had something to do with the end of Booth's relationship ate at her for months, and it was only after she finished the new novel she had thrown herself into that she got up the courage to write to Booth and apologize. When Max told her that Booth never tried to contact him about her whereabouts, she assumed that he was simply too angry to ever forgive her.

So she contented herself with her self-imposed, solitary existence. She spoke with her brother and her father by phone and email weekly, contacted her publisher and agent when necessary, but otherwise shut herself off from the rest of the world. She didn't want to be responsible for ruining anyone else's life. Even after some severe introspective moments, during one of which she had actually picked up the phone to call Booth, she still felt like she wasn't ready to move back into her former life. And as more time passed, she started to realize that it was getting harder and harder to assume that she even had the right to.

Then, when the first novel in her new series premiered in paperback, her publisher insisted on a short publicity tour and no amount of begging and pleading and threatening on Brennan's part would get them to change their minds. Which is why she found herself staring at Booth's back on an elevator at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City.

She could still vividly remember how she felt when the hotel room door closed behind Booth that Sunday night, could taste the bile that rose in her throat as she stood, stock-still and stark naked, in the middle of that beautiful suite, utterly destroyed. Every single molecule in her body screamed at her to move, to run after him and tell him that yes, she would come back to DC…to him.

But she couldn't move. The fear and terror and cowardice…whatever you wanted to call it, had defeated her once again. And unless she could pull herself together as quickly as possible, the fear was not only going to win another battle, it was going to take the war outright.

Once she was able to move, she made it as far as the bed and collapsed, deep sobs ripping from her chest as she curled into the tightest ball she could manage and purged all of the pain and fear and self-loathing in one long, loud hysterical wail. A cry so deep and heart sore and wrenching that she would feel the aftereffects for days afterward. Her muscles screamed with the effort, but she simply couldn't stop the emotion from escaping once the floodgates were open.

A long two hours later, Brennan moved from the bed and went into the bathroom, running a bath and methodically washing up, running on a stunned, exhausted auto-pilot until she was once again standing in the middle of the suite, naked. Almost as if she were watching a movie behind her closed eyes, the last eight years of her life with Booth flashed before her. The endless after-case drinks, the car rides, the meals at the diner, the danger and the safety, the love and the hate, the fear and the courage…all the moments that made them…partners. Friends. Lovers. Booth and Bones. The reasons were inconsequential. The destination was unsure. But the journey…it was always meant to be taken with him.

Her eyes snapped open, along with her heart.

She stood, pulse fluttering frantically, in front of his hotel room door. Forcing down the thoughts that this was a very bad idea, she reached up and knocked. When he answered, his hair was sticking up and his eyes were bleary…but neither was from sleep. His eyes widened, and he took a surprised step back, obviously not believing what he was seeing.

"Bones? What-"

"No, Booth…please. Let me speak." She looked nervously down the hallway, and he took the hint and moved to let her in.

She walked into the middle of the room and turned, waiting for him to close the door and join her. He stopped a few feet away from close and crossed his arms across his chest, expectant but leery look on his face.

"I-" She swallowed thickly, giving herself a quick mental pep talk before continuing. "I was going to come here and tell you some things. Things that happened while I was away, things I thought about then and things I've realized now. But now…" She stopped and looked up, willing the tears back for a moment. "Now, I know that the only thing I need to say is that…" She stopped again, getting her breathing under control.

He took a step forward, and then stopped. "Just…just say it, Bones. Whatever it is."

She looked him in the eye, squared her shoulders and left the past behind them both with her next words.

"I love you, Booth. And I just want to come home."

Booth closed his eyes and shook his head. Brennan felt a moment of panic, until he opened them again and she realized that he was fighting the urge to cry.

"Then do it, Bones." He opened his arms and held them out. "Just come home."

Neither knew who moved first, but in the end it didn't matter. She threw herself into his open arms, and breathed in his comforting scent and welcoming warmth, and knew that finally…_finally, _she was exactly where she'd always belonged.

B&B

Breaking out of her reverie, Brennan heard footsteps coming down the hallway from the back of the apartment.

"Bones? You up already?" Booth, looking adorably disheveled, entered the kitchen, and after kissing her forehead, made his way to the coffee pot. "You have to be exhausted. You were up all night writing."

She shook her head, closed her laptop and smiled. "No, actually I'm feeling quite refreshed. I think I'm hitting my second wind. Although after being awake for over twenty-four hours straight it's probably my twelfth wind."

He laughed and opened the refrigerator. "Are you hungry? I could probably whip up some eggs and toast." He peeked out from behind the open door and grinned. "But then we're going to have to hit the grocery store because I think that might be the full extent of anything edible in the house."

"That sounds good, I'm starving actually." Brennan stood to help him prepare breakfast, comforted by the way they always worked side by side with ease. Once they were done, they sat next to each other at the kitchen table to eat. In between bites, they planned their day.

"You need to go into the lab today, Bones? Because I need to get Parker and take him for his final tux fitting, then we're hitting the batting cages for awhile." He took a sip of coffee. "You could come to the cages if you want, Parker'd like that."

She shook her head. "No, thank you. I don't have to go to the lab today, but I do need to get together with Angela and go over the seating chart for the reception one more time. For some reason, she thought it would be amusing to sit Daisy Wick next to Caroline Julian."

"Oh God, it'll be a bloodbath." Booth groaned.

"Indeed. And I need to get that poem to Jared that we want him to read during the ceremony. But as soon as I'm done with that, I'm all yours. Old Ebbett Grill for dinner? Parker loves that."

"You're on, woman." Booth stood and picked up their plates to set in the sink, and then he turned and gave her a slow, loving kiss. "Good morning, by the way."

She smiled against his lips. "Good morning to you, too. Go, take a shower. You stink."

He tried to look offended but his grin gave him away. "Good thing I love you otherwise you'd be out on your cute little ass by now." He kissed her again quickly and made his way down the hall to shower.

"You'd never throw me out!" She called playfully. "You can't live without me!"

Not hearing a response, Brennan turned back to the paper to read when she felt Booth's arms wrap around her.

"You are absolutely right, Bones. I can't live without you. And you…" He trailed a few kisses along her neck. "…can't live without me."

"Mmmhmm…" She agreed, turning his face to hers and looking him in the eye. "That is one truth I will never, ever deny."


End file.
